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Hello again! How are you all?! It’s been quiet on my blog the past couple of weeks, thanks to a slew of sickness and Elliott being out of town and family visiting and other writing. I’m savoring nap/rest time right now where my kids have to be quiet for an hour… and where I can catch up with you, read a bit, and eat a huge bowl of strawberries and cream!

I thought I’d share a few photos from my phone to get caught up:

The weekend of Mother’s Day, my parents were in town after Elliott left for three weeks of Airborne School. I was so glad to have them here for a couple of weeks! We went to see my cousin Tyler in a rock climbing competition (he placed third!) and on Mother’s Day my mom and I went on an amazing historical home tour in our town.

My cousin KT and her husband and daughter also came for a short visit, and the kiddos had so much fun together. We visited the San Diego Zoo…

… and the beach, where Alton made a huge sand castle fortress and the kids waited like hungry vultures until they could knock it down as soon as he was done.

We also spent a lot of quiet days at home and enjoying time with my mom, who is such a wonderful guest and friend and support to me, especially in this stage of young motherhood. Thank you for all your help, Mom!

We also finally harvested our first artichokes from our very thirsty, very demanding, very temperamental artichoke plant. (He seriously has a personality all of his own!) And one afternoon Lena and I cut out paper dolls from a book, which was about as much fun and as frustrating as I remembered from when I was about her age…

Right after my parents left, the kids and I roadtripped up to central California for Elliott’s cousin’s wedding. Since it was a five-hour drive, we were all really bummed Elliott couldn’t be there! But the drive when surprisingly well. These two are good little travelers. We trained ’em young!

Elliott’s parents flew out for the wedding, and his dad had fun showing us around the small town where he grew up. He treated us all to donuts! The kids we beside themselves with glee.

The rehearsal dinner and wedding were beautiful, all in the bride’s family’s backyard. What a setting! Lena and Gil were antsy during the ceremony, but that meant we got the best seats in the house.

Unfortunately, while I was standing in the hors d’oeurves line, Gil and Lena were dancing with some other kids, and then Gil suddenly stopped and threw up… all over the dance floor! I had brought another shirt, so my mother-in-law changed him while I did the Mom’s Walk of Shame and marched out onto the dance floor to wipe up the mess with a stack of baby wipes. Unfortunately, Gil had barely donned a clean shirt when he threw up again, and so I decided to cut my losses and go home.

It was a looooong night of vomit almost every hour for Gil, and I wasn’t sure what we would do the next morning. I didn’t think I could drive home by myself with him in this state! Miraculously, my mother-in-law was able to change her flight free of charge, and she offered to drive us home to San Diego and then fly out of that airport the next morning. Thank you, Mom and Dad!

It was such a gift, and definitely needed because Gil was still sick for the next four days. Thankfully he’s better now… and has moved onto a new virus. This has been the spring of sickness for us, and I am so ready for it to end!

Lena was so glad to come home to her precious kittens, all of whom are growing up so quickly and continue to bring us so much joy.

Elliott was still out of town and the kids were still sick and I was so tired, but Lena had been begging me to “make cheese!” with her for days. So finally we finished gathering the supplies and made homemade mozzarella. It was super easy; here’s the recipe we used. I think we kneaded it too much at the end because it is unfortunately very rubbery. We’ll do better next time! Now we just need all our tomato plants to ripen so we can make a totally homemade caprese salad.

And then Elliott came home! I can’t even begin to describe how relieved and happy I was after worrying and praying over his safety for the past three weeks. He was training to become a paratrooper, and that involved two weeks of training and then one week of jumping out of a moving airplane with a parachute five separate times. But he has nothing worse to show for his trials than a few fading bruises. Here’s a video if you want to see what he did!

Lena took our picture… about 100 times, including some great outtakes, like Elliott “fixing” my hair the way he does before most photos.

We have some very proud kiddos, too! Do you like the shirts Elliott got them? :)

Over the weekend we did some fun things together as a family and with friends, including going to this rodeo — Gil’s first!

We visited the tide pools at Sunset Cliffs (I also blogged about them here), where the kids found sea anemones and hermit crabs, and then found kelp pods to pop. I said this could be their cover of their first album, “Smashing Kelp.”

On Sunday we visited North Park, where my favorite store — Pigment — has been reconfigured to accommodate an entire section where you can design your own terrarium. You can even buy a little brass watering can to go with it! Gil was all over that.

On Memorial Day we visited Kensington (a cool neighborhood where we almost bought a house) for their small town parade. Fun with friends even in the rain!

Yesterday the kiddos and I visited the museums in Balboa Park for “free resident Tuesday,” a perk that we take advantage of pretty frequently. We visited the underwhelming Automotive Museum, where the best thing we found was this picture for my dad, who worked for Mobil for most of his career!

And I’ll leave you with these sweet kittens, who are now eight weeks old and so much fun! What have you all been up to? Happy Wednesday!

Five years ago today we froze our toes off for that picture! Happy five year anniversary to us. :)

It was such a whirlwind day, snowflakes and all, the culmination of years of dreaming but only three quick months of planning. In retrospect (and in the moment), I am so glad we had a short engagement. It forced us to make our decisions quickly and decisively, throwing dreams and instincts and friends and budget all into one pot, mixing it up, and coming out with a very collaborative wedding where everyone ate, danced, was merry… and stayed mostly warm!

It was a rather formal wedding — more formal than we usually are — and it wasn’t the outdoor, rustic affair I could have spent ages fussing over. But it did have a lot of cozy elements to it, like the bluegrass band that called the steps to the dances, and the photographer who had been a family friend for years, and the pies instead of cake, and the flowers arranged by friends with a burgeoning floral business, and the 50 bottles of wine you could choose from instead of a formal bar, and the fact that we were all shocked by the snow but were muddling through together anyway, with fur boots on under my wedding dress and unforgettable snowflake-filled memories being made.

How long were you engaged? Do you wish it was longer or shorter? What would you change about your wedding if you could?

Many of you have probably seen on Facebook or Instagram, but my sister-in-law Eden got married on Sunday! They were wed in a beautiful outdoor ceremony on Charlie’s family’s land on the Chesapeake Bay, complete with a Scottish bagpiper, the best ice cream on the Eastern Shore, delicious homemade cakes, Celtic line dancing, and wildflowers everywhere. The weather was perfect — mid-70s and sunny — and the whole day felt peaceful, joyous, and new.

I kept choking up every time I looked at Eden during the ceremony. She had waited for this day, dreamed of this day, and now… beautiful reality! Charlie and Eden had so carefully chosen every piece of the wedding, and it intricately reflected their shared faith, community, artistry, and dreams.

Of course, for Elliott and me, now weddings are a whole different ball game with two littles. I felt a little scattered the whole time because of Gil; I was constantly holding him, passing him off to someone else, keeping an eye on him wherever he was, trying to get him to nap, checking on him while he was napping, feeding him, holding him… and so on and so forth. Lena, meanwhile, felt completely at home and ran around the entire property by herself, skipping from one group of friends to another. She was so happy. I think she drank her weight in “yemonade,” too!

Now the family — minus the honeymooners — have moved to Chincoteague, Virginia. Elliott’s family has vacationed here for 20 years, but this is my first visit. We’re savoring the quiet days and time together, mixing board games and building blocks together now, as we drink in this beautiful view. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Gil fell asleep on Elliott’s chest the other night as we were Skyping with Elliott’s parents. (They could hardly look at us the entire time because they were too enthralled with their grandson!) After we said goodbye, we were admiring Gil ourselves when all at once he started making some hilarious faces in his sleep. I grabbed my camera and tried to capture a few of his many expressions.

What was he dreaming about? Rivers of milk? Your guess is as good as mine!

Here are a few photos that I took of the rehearsal dinner for my brother-in-law Jonathan and his lovely fiancee [now wife!] Erika. The Garber parents threw an amazing party at their house with outdoor seating under a tent strung with twinkle lights; a whole roasted pig (!); a delicious spread of salad and baked potatoes and homemade biscuits; drinks and snacks on the back deck; homemade pumpkin pies and apple crisps and Nutella-stuffed brown butter + sea salt chocolate chip cookies for dessert; and a fire pit for gathering and talking after dark. The whole party was a smashing success. So happy for you, Jon and Erika!

thank you, Abby, Clydette, and Gail, for your amazing help in the kitchen!